Brann Dailor of Mastodon at Roskilde Festival
Mastodon came out with a new video earlier this week. “Dry Bone Valley” off of “The Hunter” goes down well with your favorite intoxicant after you maximize the video to your screen and crank it up. The photo above is of Brann Dailor, who does most of the vocals on Dry Bone Valley.
A couple weeks ago I showed a photo of the sunrise/sunset as I flew from the USA to Europe overnight near the Summer solstice. At one point on that plane, the wing perfectly blocked the sun from glaring up my window so I could take this picture. The land you see below the horizon is Greenland, partially covered in clouds or fog it appears.
Japanese photographer takes aim at some plum blossoms in Ikegamibaien (池上梅園)
When you get bored of taking photos of flower blossoms in Japan you can always turn your camera on the dozens of (mostly) old, Japanese men targeting the flowers with their giant DSLRs.
One of the best places to see plum blossoms this time of year in (or near) Tokyo is Ikegami Baien. The flowers probably won’t hit their peak for another few weeks, but the viewing should be good for the next six or seven weeks.
tea room at Ikegamibaien (池上梅園)
During the winter in Japan trees are frequently covered in straw rope or wires formed to make a teepee of sorts which supposedly protects the tree’s branches from accumulating large amounts of snow and breaking. The devices are called yukitsuri (雪吊 or snow hangers), and you can read more about them here.
Tattooed Swedes enjoying the sun at the Getaway Rock Festival
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is set in Sweden. If you visit Sweden you’ll see a lot more than dragon tattoos though. I doubt anyone tracks these things, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Sweden has the highest per capita amount of tattoos. The largest tattoo conventions tend to happen in Sweden, in part, because of this.
The guy in the middle, adding a sunburn to his tattooed body, has a Japanese Oni on his back. Japan probably has the lowest per capita amount of tattoos in the world so it’s a bit ironic that Japanese things (like the kanji on the right guy’s left leg) are a frequent piece of tattoo art.
Kawagoe (川越市) in Saitama Ken (埼玉県) is known as “Little Edo” (小江戸). The Kawagoe surroundings can transport you back in time. This couple, I’m not sure if they were really newlyweds or if they were merely having photos taken as an engaged couple or something, put on traditional threads and posed for their photographer. They didn’t seem to mind when others joined in on the photography orgy. I wasn’t nearly as bold so I took this picture from afar.
Perhaps my favorite part of this picture is the smiling older lady in the reflection on the window.
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